QAFL 2026

[outandabout]

My recollection of the last 20-30 years.

2016 - UQ voluntarily withdrew
2020 - Sandgate voluntarily withdrew, but had failed to meet license conditions in 2018 and 2019 by not fielding colts
2011 - Western Magpies voluntarily withdrew after being made an offer to be the Lions Reserves exclusive top up club. Flood I imagine made that decision easy?
2008 - Zillmere/Northern Eagles went broke?
2005 - Western Magpies & Mayne both removed involuntarily and both weren't happy about it
1999 - Sunshine Coast/Maroochy removed involuntarily
1997 - Western Districts went broke, so merger with Sherwood failed and the merged team was removed from competition
1996 - Kedron/Grange merger failed and each club stepped back a division voluntarily?
1993 - Coorparoo folded and thus removed

So 2005 by my guess when Mayne and Western Magpies were removed is the last time someone was forced out?

That's a fair summary.
So around 20 years was the last time head office made those type of decisions.

 

[damochandler]

My recollection of the last 20-30 years.

2016 - UQ voluntarily withdrew
2020 - Sandgate voluntarily withdrew, but had failed to meet license conditions in 2018 and 2019 by not fielding colts
2011 - Western Magpies voluntarily withdrew after being made an offer to be the Lions Reserves exclusive top up club. Flood I imagine made that decision easy?
2008 - Zillmere/Northern Eagles went broke?
2005 - Western Magpies & Mayne both removed involuntarily and both weren't happy about it
1999 - Sunshine Coast/Maroochy removed involuntarily
1997 - Western Districts went broke, so merger with Sherwood failed and the merged team was removed from competition
1996 - Kedron/Grange merger failed and each club stepped back a division voluntarily?
1993 - Coorparoo folded and thus removed

So 2005 by my guess when Mayne and Western Magpies were removed is the last time someone was forced out?

Don’t forget mayne were forced out in 1999

 

[LaggingBehind]

Most VFL clubs do not have a junior club.

The AFL clubs field their reserves in the competition and standalone VFL clubs have no reserves teams.

In terms of juniors, Williamstown field teams in the Western FNL and I think Werribee do as well in the same comp but that would be about it.

The rest recruit solely from local leagues and also the players not drafted from the TAC Cup competition. When they are recruited, the player nominates a metro club where they play if they aren't picked in the VFL.


In the WAFL, clubs are assigned geographic boundaries and have first call on the juniors playing in that region. None of the clubs have an actual junior club playing in a league throughout the winter, though the WAFL does stage an Under 16 series that runs for a few weeks as part of their pathways development.

So the issue in SEQ is the QAFL clubs have the added pressure to provide a direct pathway for their juniors and youth. Understanding this inherent preference perhaps these “one club” approaches are part of the problem. It’s a massive recruiting tool in Youth as well.

 

[Backpocket101]

Sorry, I still stick with some clubs need to be dropped. How do you justify being almost winless for 3 years in the highest comp in the state?

How do you justify not making finals for years?

I don’t care how big a clubs junior base is. It has no correlation with their seniors. I will admit some clubs do it better than others however and can have its benefits.

A lot of people on here scared for their own clubs going up or down. It needs to be a 10 team comp and improve the overall quality for those teams. Flip side of that is I think we need a Brisbane based VFL team, that isn’t the lions.

Nowadays plenty of players will go play with their mates. Plenty of proof in the Friday nights with many former QAFL standard playing Fridays or lower comps to play with their mates. But there is also guys who will push themselves and want to play at the highest. If your club falls over if dropped or promoted because clubs or playing/coaching group don’t want to get challenged? Then that’s a culture problem.

 

[thunderdoc]

That's a fair summary.
So around 20 years was the last time head office made those type of decisions.

Zillmere did not go broke

 

[Miller1971]

Most VFL clubs do not have a junior club.

The AFL clubs field their reserves in the competition and standalone VFL clubs have no reserves teams.

In terms of juniors, Williamstown field teams in the Western FNL and I think Werribee do as well in the same comp but that would be about it.

The rest recruit solely from local leagues and also the players not drafted from the TAC Cup competition. When they are recruited, the player nominates a metro club where they play if they aren't picked in the VFL.


In the WAFL, clubs are assigned geographic boundaries and have first call on the juniors playing in that region. None of the clubs have an actual junior club playing in a league throughout the winter, though the WAFL does stage an Under 16 series that runs for a few weeks as part of their pathways development.

Given most of the QAFL clubs rely on junior rego fees to fund themselves, the SANFL and WAFL models just don't/won't work.

Would think only Aspley, Redland, Labrador and maybe Noosa are self funded for senior footy?

 

[Miller1971]

Zillmere did not go broke

Sponsor/backer went broke?

 

[LaggingBehind]

Zillmere did not go broke

The flow through names of Windsor Zillmere, North Brisbane, Northern Eagles, Zillmere Eagles suggests there was something not right.

 

[stuyd1]

Reality is. 13 is too many in QAFL. I think 10 or 11 max. Play everyone twice. Less gaps between the top and the bottom. Bottom 3 need to go. Mt Gravatt have won one game in 3 years. Sherwood haven’t made finals for a very long time. I don’t think we need two SC teams personally.

Let’s remember no one had a problem with Sandgate dropping out as everyone agreed they weren’t competitive. Same with UQ. Albeit UQs was due to other reasons as well.

It’s time to make the hard decisions by AFLQ and drop 2-3 teams into Div 1.

So what's the comp structure to be ,,,my thoughts are
1- the 4 Gold coast clubs are in
2- Aspley,Morningside and Redlands in
3- both Sunshine coast clubs in .

that's 9 clubs but it needs 10 for a even season fixture where every club plays each other twice .
So which is the remaining club to make 10 ....Mt Gravatt, Sherwood, the Grange or Coorparoo..?
Or make it a 12 club comp with one of the prior 4 clubs dropping out .

 

[offsider12]

So what's the comp structure to be ,,,my thoughts are
1- the 4 Gold coast clubs are in
2- Aspley,Morningside and Redlands in
3- both Sunshine coast clubs in .

that's 9 clubs but it needs 10 for a even season fixture where every club plays each other twice .
So which is the remaining club to make 10 ....Mt Gravatt, Sherwood, the Grange or Coorparoo..?
Or make it a 12 club comp with one of the prior 4 clubs dropping out .

Sherwood in if you are basing off geography and having a catchment area for sustainability

 

[smy1305]

My recollection of the last 20-30 years.

2016 - UQ voluntarily withdrew
2020 - Sandgate voluntarily withdrew, but had failed to meet license conditions in 2018 and 2019 by not fielding colts
2011 - Western Magpies voluntarily withdrew after being made an offer to be the Lions Reserves exclusive top up club. Flood I imagine made that decision easy?
2008 - Zillmere/Northern Eagles went broke?
2005 - Western Magpies & Mayne both removed involuntarily and both weren't happy about it
1999 - Sunshine Coast/Maroochy removed involuntarily
1997 - Western Districts went broke, so merger with Sherwood failed and the merged team was removed from competition
1996 - Kedron/Grange merger failed and each club stepped back a division voluntarily?
1993 - Coorparoo folded and thus removed

So 2005 by my guess when Mayne and Western Magpies were removed is the last time someone was forced out?

Maroochydore folded in 1999. Basically went bankrupt only saved by the fact that the junior club was a different entity and kept the colours, club name etc.

 

[smy1305]

Given most of the QAFL clubs rely on junior rego fees to fund themselves, the SANFL and WAFL models just don't/won't work.

Would think only Aspley, Redland, Labrador and maybe Noosa are self funded for senior footy?

maroochydore don't rely on junior club for finances - 2 separate bank accounts...

 

[Still Me]

My recollection of the last 20-30 years.

2016 - UQ voluntarily withdrew
2020 - Sandgate voluntarily withdrew, but had failed to meet license conditions in 2018 and 2019 by not fielding colts
2011 - Western Magpies voluntarily withdrew after being made an offer to be the Lions Reserves exclusive top up club. Flood I imagine made that decision easy?
2008 - Zillmere/Northern Eagles went broke?
2005 - Western Magpies & Mayne both removed involuntarily and both weren't happy about it
1999 - Sunshine Coast/Maroochy removed involuntarily
1997 - Western Districts went broke, so merger with Sherwood failed and the merged team was removed from competition
1996 - Kedron/Grange merger failed and each club stepped back a division voluntarily?
1993 - Coorparoo folded and thus removed

So 2005 by my guess when Mayne and Western Magpies were removed is the last time someone was forced out?

Good summary Miller

My recollection of the last 20-30 years.

2016 - UQ voluntarily withdrew
2020 - Sandgate voluntarily withdrew, but had failed to meet license conditions in 2018 and 2019 by not fielding colts
2011 - Western Magpies voluntarily withdrew after being made an offer to be the Lions Reserves exclusive top up club. Flood I imagine made that decision easy?
2008 - Zillmere/Northern Eagles went broke?
2005 - Western Magpies & Mayne both removed involuntarily and both weren't happy about it
1999 - Sunshine Coast/Maroochy removed involuntarily
1997 - Western Districts went broke, so merger with Sherwood failed and the merged team was removed from competition
1996 - Kedron/Grange merger failed and each club stepped back a division voluntarily?
1993 - Coorparoo folded and thus removed

So 2005 by my guess when Mayne and Western Magpies were removed is the last time someone was forced out?

Good Summary Miller. So pretty clear there has been no strong leadership or direction for last 20 years just back slapping on growth of game.

Some very good points across the board in regards competition structure and how QLD is set up compared to other states in regards junior clubs etc.

It’s not easy to get it right but the competitions across the board are looking for change and need some good open conversations with key stakeholders for the betterment of all competitions and taking off club caps.

I feel scaling back our premier competition is a must to start with and that will then create a solid competition directly underneath that could now cater for promotion/relegation so clubs like MtGravatt, Sherwood, Grange, Noosa etc have opportunities to go back have success and come back up.

That way you play in competition below QAFL knowing if you win a premiership you are going up which means opening up opportunities for additional GC teams to aspire plus likes of Redcliffe, Moreton etc to aim upwards.

We need a strong plan and like Paul said we also need League funding in more active way to support clubs.

Think we all have good of game in QLD but atm it’s long way off with 5-6 good sides in state league and individual teams dominating leagues below.

 

[Breretonisahood]

So the issue in SEQ is the QAFL clubs have the added pressure to provide a direct pathway for their juniors and youth. Understanding this inherent preference perhaps these “one club” approaches are part of the problem. It’s a massive recruiting tool in Youth as well.

Don’t disagree but it’s dangerous to draw parallels between SEQLD and Vic footy, particularly with juniors. Vic has a massive private school sector with top level comps like APS, AGSV and ACC and lesser ones like EISM (which alone is a 20 team 2 Div comp!) that do a lot of the heavy lifting at junior level. Thus VFL clubs don’t need to worry about running junior teams. There are even some suburban teams like Balwyn that don’t bother with juniors. This will never happen in QLD so QAFL clubs will always have to keep a juniors program going- unless some kind of future draft allocates 17/18 yr olds from junior clubs to standalone QAFL teams.

 

[Windsor_Zillmere]

The flow through names of Windsor Zillmere, North Brisbane, Northern Eagles, Zillmere Eagles suggests there was something not right.

That's not 100% true. Windsor-Zillmere was the original club. In the early 1990's a lot of the QAFL clubs were forced into mergers by the QAFL. Zillmere was merged with Sandgte, WG was merged with Kedron, West and Sherwood merged. This led to the teams having alternative names. Hence the North Brisbane name until 1995. The club voluntarily stayed out of the league in 1996 while they fixed their finances and came back in 1997 as a stand alone entity without Sandgate involved. Due to Sandgate no longer being part of the club it was named the Northern Eagles. In about 2004 they had the backing of Kedron Wavell RSL and changed their name back to Zillmere Districts.

In any event - the club itself never went broke. Shaw Sport went into financial difficulty (lets call a spade a spade - they went broke) and Aspley had wanted into the QAFL for a number of years. There was even discussion between Aspley and Zillmere to merge at one point. AFLQ did a strategic review of football on the northside of Brisbane and decided that Aspley was in a better financial position and the QAFL license was moved from Zillmere to Aspley. That effectively removed Zillmere from the QAFL and killed the senior club. The club itself was kept running on junior teams only between 2009 and 2013 when the club re-entered the Friday night competition.

 

[Miller1971]

10 teams is definitely the right mix

Some mights say pick the big ones with the strong juniors, but for mine thats not important as strong juniors doesn't translate to senior success and if anything, running a monster sized junior club is probably a distraction.

Putting aside performance for the time being, something like this would be my starting point.

1. Noosa
2. Maroochy
3. Aspley
4. Morningside
5. Sherwood
6. Mt Gravatt
7. Palm Beach
8. Broadbeach
9. Labrador

this gives you the following:

2 x Sunny Coast
4 x Brisbane (North, East, South, West)
3 x Gold Coast

Obviously, this list doesn't include the 2025 Grand Finalists in Redland and Surfers. Both not strong in juniors and historically uncompetitive Colts setups, but always at the pointy end of the State League ladder.

Do you throw Surfers back in to make it 10, or is it Redland to give the larger population 5 teams?

There has long been chatter about Redland not being sustainable, but the evidence suggests the complete opposite.

Absolutely nothing against Grange or Coorparoo here, I am merely presenting this via compass points and the stronger teams in each region. Aspley vs Grange and Morningside vs Coorparoo

Now if you were truly strategic, you would actually want the western Brisbane representation coming from Springfield or Ipswich, not Sherwood.

You would also probably want the south Brisbane representation to be coming from the Logan area, not Mt Gravatt

Neither of these regions have clubs even close to ready, and it would be even harder for these locations to compete from a recruitment perspective. Though I firmly believe the focus from some clubs on transplanting interstate players is what harms the competition the most.

Given we had a 12 team comp, and AFLQ came along and added Coorparoo slap bang in the middle of 3 existing clubs for reasons nobody will ever understand - I really doubt any of this stuff is really even being considered or discussed outside this internet forum.

All worthy of debate, but it needs a holistic strategic approach and AFLQ also need to grow a pair and start cracking down on a few mobs who clearly breach both the rules (and the spirit) of the competition they play in.

 

[LaggingBehind]

That's not 100% true. Windsor-Zillmere was the original club. In the early 1990's a lot of the QAFL clubs were forced into mergers by the QAFL. Zillmere was merged with Sandgte, WG was merged with Kedron, West and Sherwood merged. This led to the teams having alternative names. Hence the North Brisbane name until 1995. The club voluntarily stayed out of the league in 1996 while they fixed their finances and came back in 1997 as a stand alone entity without Sandgate involved. Due to Sandgate no longer being part of the club it was named the Northern Eagles. In about 2004 they had the backing of Kedron Wavell RSL and changed their name back to Zillmere Districts.

In any event - the club itself never went broke. Shaw Sport went into financial difficulty (lets call a spade a spade - they went broke) and Aspley had wanted into the QAFL for a number of years. There was even discussion between Aspley and Zillmere to merge at one point. AFLQ did a strategic review of football on the northside of Brisbane and decided that Aspley was in a better financial position and the QAFL license was moved from Zillmere to Aspley. That effectively removed Zillmere from the QAFL and killed the senior club. The club itself was kept running on junior teams only between 2009 and 2013 when the club re-entered the Friday night competition.

Thanks for the good intel & clarity there WZ. I love your tenacity and loyalty. I hope the current version at the Eagles prospers in years to come.

 

[stuyd1]

10 teams is definitely the right mix

Some mights say pick the big ones with the strong juniors, but for mine thats not important as strong juniors doesn't translate to senior success and if anything, running a monster sized junior club is probably a distraction.

Putting aside performance for the time being, something like this would be my starting point.

1. Noosa
2. Maroochy
3. Aspley
4. Morningside
5. Sherwood
6. Mt Gravatt
7. Palm Beach
8. Broadbeach
9. Labrador

this gives you the following:

2 x Sunny Coast
4 x Brisbane (North, East, South, West)
3 x Gold Coast

Obviously, this list doesn't include the 2025 Grand Finalists in Redland and Surfers. Both not strong in juniors and historically uncompetitive Colts setups, but always at the pointy end of the State League ladder.

Do you throw Surfers back in to make it 10, or is it Redland to give the larger population 5 teams?

There has long been chatter about Redland not being sustainable, but the evidence suggests the complete opposite.

Absolutely nothing against Grange or Coorparoo here, I am merely presenting this via compass points and the stronger teams in each region. Aspley vs Grange and Morningside vs Coorparoo

Now if you were truly strategic, you would actually want the western Brisbane representation coming from Springfield or Ipswich, not Sherwood.

You would also probably want the south Brisbane representation to be coming from the Logan area, not Mt Gravatt

Neither of these regions have clubs even close to ready, and it would be even harder for these locations to compete from a recruitment perspective. Though I firmly believe the focus from some clubs on transplanting interstate players is what harms the competition the most.

Given we had a 12 team comp, and AFLQ came along and added Coorparoo slap bang in the middle of 3 existing clubs for reasons nobody will ever understand - I really doubt any of this stuff is really even being considered or discussed outside this internet forum.

All worthy of debate, but it needs a holistic strategic approach and AFLQ also need to grow a pair and start cracking down on a few mobs who clearly breach both the rules (and

spirit) of the competition they play in.ss

 

[stuyd1]

IMO ,,Surfers and Redlands have to be in the comp .
I had a look at seasons 2023,2024, and 2025 win tallies for

1; Mt Gravatt ; won 5 games in 2023 and zero in 2024 and 2025
2; Sherwood; 4 and a half, 6 and a half and 8 in 2025
3; Grange; 11, 11, and 6 and a half in 2025.
4; Coorparoo ; 5 and a half in their first season 2025.

So which clubs go ??
The league does not have enough supporters in general so the idea of geographics just doesn't fit...lets face it , Rugby league is dominant in the regions and go to some Host plus games ,,,attendence s are 1000 to 1500 plus all the time,
Funding is poor and the salary cap is some 70k or 80k which is small compared to down south but clubs cannot afford big salary caps anyway .
I think the clubs here do a great job in difficult circumstances

 

[Miller1971]

I highly doubt AFLQ are even looking at this, they just added a team in the middle of everything and look at what is happening in the womens state league.

 

[stuyd1]

I highly doubt AFLQ are even looking at this, they just added a team in the middle of everything and look at what is happening in the womens state league.

Has anyone ever approached the AFLQ and requested the reasoning for this decision/decisions ,,,,surely the club Presidents were notified and had discussions etc

 

[smy1305]

Noah Cumberland signed back with Maroochydore. Likely to play this week. He has t been killing it in Melbourne tbh but a local kid who had a purple patch at afl level and will be more than handy for the Roos

 

[BigE]

Noah Cumberland signed back with Maroochydore. Likely to play this week. He has t been killing it in Melbourne tbh but a local kid who had a purple patch at afl level and will be more than handy for the Roos

huge mid year signing.

 

[Miller1971]

Has anyone ever approached the AFLQ and requested the reasoning for this decision/decisions ,,,,surely the club Presidents were notified and had discussions etc

surely??

surely not!

 

[Up it Stumpy]

My Tips:

Maroochydore
Morningside
Noosa
PBC
Surfers
Aspley